Only One Kiss (Only One 1)

“But—” she starts to say, and I put my finger on her lips.

“But let’s just have lunch, and then we can go for a walk. I don’t want to hear your buts, and I don’t want you to tell me we shouldn’t be doing this. Let’s just—”

“Have lunch.” She smiles shyly at me. “But.” I groan now when she says the word but and she chuckles. “How about . . .?” She opens her legs, and I step closer to her. “You thank me properly.” Her hands pull me even closer, and she tilts her head back. “I mean, I did buy you lunch.”

Smiling at her, I tilt my head to the side, leaning in and taking her lips. I slide my tongue into her hot mouth at the same time as she puts her hands around my neck and pulls me in closer. Our tongues wrestle with each other. My cock presses against her as she wraps her ankles around my waist. “If we don’t stop . . .” I pull back, and the sound of us panting fills the air. “You’re going to be my meal.” I watch her eyes widen as she blinks. Her legs fall from around my waist, and she just looks at me.

“I think it would be a good time for me to go,” she says, and I look at her. “I have things that I didn’t do this morning.” She pushes away from me, and I watch her hop off the counter. She walks around and kisses Ari.

“Maybe tomorrow we can do the whole walk thing.” She grabs the salad. “I have to go.” She puts the salad in the bag, and before I know it, she’s out of the door.

Instead of going after her, I sit at the counter and eat the meal that she ordered. I send her a text that goes unanswered. I feed Ari and play with her, the whole time thinking about Candace. I replay the scene over and over in my head, making a plan.

“What do you think, baby girl?” I ask her as I change her diaper and prepare a bag with more bottles than I need. “Do you want to come with Daddy?” She just smiles at me, and I snap a picture of her. “Want to go for a walk?” I ask, and she bounces a bit. She whines when I put her in the car seat, but I put the pacifier in her mouth, and she settles down. We make a quick stop, and when I get to her house, I pop open the trunk and get the stroller out and set Ari in it. She looks around, not too sure of what and where she is.

“Okay, here we go,” I say as I move the stroller to the passenger side and grab the big pink bouquet that I’d stopped to pick up on the way. I asked them for every single pink flower they had. I walk up the driveway, and I hold my breath before I press the doorbell.

“This, baby girl, is the first step to wooing her.” I look at the flowers now. “Or at least I hope it’s step one,” I mumble.

I hear her footsteps approach the door, and then she unlocks it before she opens the door. Her eyes go wide when she sees me. “Hey,” I say, looking at how beautiful she is. She’s still dressed in the jeans from before, but I see her hair has been put up in a bun on top of her head. “We were wondering,” I start to say, suddenly feeling nervous. Shit, maybe I should have thought this through before showing up at her door. “I was wondering, and well, Ari,” I say and then stop. I look down at my girl smiling at Ari and moving her hands as she looks at her. “If you would like to go for a walk with us.”

“Ralph,” she says softly, and I have the sickening feeling that she is going to end things. From the tone of her voice and the way she hasn’t come out and got Ari or even spoke to her. My heart sinks. Oh my God, I did this. I pushed her too hard, too fast. I should have gone in slow, but I just couldn’t.

She’s about to say something else when I hear a man’s voice behind her, and my heart sinks. “Who is at the door?”Chapter 23CandaceWhen I pulled open the door, I expected it to be my pizza that I ordered. The last person I expected it to be was Ralph. He was standing there in the exact outfit he wore before, and he was pushing a stroller with one hand while the other hand held one of the biggest bouquets that I have ever seen. Ari was dressed as she was before, and she smiled at me, her hands moving a million miles a minute, and it took everything I had not to step into her and him.